New update of Amberlight 2 is out featuring new codecs and video formats, improved fields editing, calculation of estimated render time and many other useful settings.

We’ve been working on Amberlight 2 improvements since the day we released the new upgrade. Fortunately, almost no bugs occurred in the initial release so we could focus on strengthening the workflow and adding new functions to 2.1 update. See below some of the most important features we’ve built to this version:

New codecs and video formats

New codecs in v.2.1 include
huffYUV, VP8 and the next-generation H.265.The first offers lossless compression by default, other codecs can be set with lossless compression in advanced quality settings of Final render dialog window. H.265 has a 40-50% bit rate reduction compared with H.264 at the same visual quality. With new codecs come new video formats: AVI and WEBM.

New animation editing options

From this version you can edit the position of keyframes directly on the animation curve. Keys are displayed as nodes, just easily grab and place them anywhere on the scene. To precisely edit the animation trajectory you can use the Edit Trajectory feature from the Scene Panel. Tangents of each key will appear. Each key has two tangents, left and a right. By moving tangents of a key you can changes the shape of the trajectory.

Calculation of final render time

Now, after you start to render the animation, you can see the estimated time of final render. This feature was suggested by many users to let them decide whether to wait behind the desk for the end result or better take a nap instead. :)

Other changes:

- Auto animation looping when first and last frame are identical- Added “current frame” box in animation timeline - Added Scene settings button in timeline panel- Number of fields can be set manually- Improved snap to grid- Fields keyframes as well as selection of multiple fields can be snapped to grid- Center of group can be moved for group rotation- Added scene thumbnail in navigator panel- Added drag to spinbox editing- Added Fullscreen and Stay on top- Publish to Gallery fixed